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Absolutely. Not only do I agree with all of that, but breeding your own crickets helps you control what goes in to your mantids nutritionally. Store bought crickets often can hardly be considered "food" suitable for anything... so you already almost have to keep them for a week to get them...

Noted. This is documentation for a larger scale set up though, as stated, so the heat really is par for the course. These notes could be adjusted for a smaller situation but that's not what I'm going for.

Exactly, we bought a thing called a "Biopod Plus", which is just a smaller composting bin. http://www.thebiopod.com/pages/biopod-plus.html Ordered ours through Amazon (3rd party merchant). We put in a small base of cedar shavings, and then threw the food scraps each day in there. Bottle...

I've heard of something like that but never tried it. The larvae like food waste, so we give them table scraps. I doubt the nutritional benefits of feeding them something as bleak as coffee grounds so I stayed away. We follow a GIGO philosophy with the feeders - garbage in garbage out. Feed...

They were wild caught oothecae so it's possible - I haven't found any pictures that look like those ooths except carolinas, but I agree the mantid colors are all wrong

Hello and welcome, pretty Chinese Where in the Pacific Northwest? Just outside of Portland Oregon here.

Already having the tank obviously changes things a bit, and yes don't let my testimony alone act as proof it can't be done - I just found it very undesirable. I'll omit your last remark, I'm sure you don't mean to say you only trust your own experiences; or you'd probably have died of something...

Yes you can make or find a tri or quad lid... but after that added expense you are far better off to have just bought three or four individual containers (which can also be moved independently). You are near if not over $50 for three 4x6x6 containers. As for the screening of the partitioning...

I put one of those together but ultimately don't recommend it. Mantids like to hang on the lid, so when you open it they are all released. Lining them up evenly on the lid to put it back on - or trying to get/keep two or three (or in my case it was as many as four) mantids in the enclosure...

Hello and welcome. I'd say start with a local specie or something hardy like Rhombodera or some of the Miomantis. My first was European (which is both local and hardy) and I regret nothing :) When you set aside all the glamour of the exotics, the European is by far the coolest specie imo.

I can't rule out a mix up in on Denise's end... but I can guarantee there are Carolina's somewhere in there. Here's their birth, several months apart from my Chinese hatch (nearly all of which were adult by this time). http://soundspawn.com/browser.php?p=carolina_hatch_07_26_14 The ooths are...

Oh, put them together then, ghosts are communal so when the time is right they'll mate. No need to separate them, even when rearing :) For the record they are ready to mate after approximately 1 week for males and 2 weeks for females. Again though, let them share a habitat, the interactions...

What specie? Generally two weeks is the minimum, but some are a month or even longer. Regardless, I would not introduce them until at least Sunday.

They are too small to be Chinese, those wing buds are a molt or two from adult yet they are hardly two knuckles long. Compare to: http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/carolina-praying-mantis-stagmomantis-carolina-10769502.jpg...

I personally reared her Carolinas, but one odd thing is one of my adults now has all the markings of a chinese... yet is about half the size. This is looking kind of the same, too small to be a Chinese but is keeping the look. They were reared in close proximity but were/are about 3 months...

That's an ooth laid 4 days after they were introduced and perhaps 2 days after mating? Or is this a different, previously mated, female you are talking about? Generally the first ooth is 7 days or more past mating - it's great she is producing so keep her fed, but I wouldn't expect that to be...

Definitely give him a rest - he'll need to eat and recharge. I usually wait close to a week (I tend to mate on Saturdays) but that may be overkill.

Hello and welcome

I've always found patience and keeping the female well fed to be the reliable way. I wouldn't try to speed anything up or interfere more than absolutely necessary. We've had some males stay mounted for 4+ days, but so long as you keep the female fed things eventually work themselves out.

I think that Katydid just walked in to a nightmare factory